Failures in Egg-Donor IVF or A Locus for Subjectivity

Bringing about a split in the very concept of “mother”, egg donation IVF signals a mode of female kinship marked by the absence of a hereditary link to the child and at the same time, by the presence of an in-body bond. Often termed “borrowed” or “foreign”, the donated eggs fertilized by the partner’s sperm become inconceivable, attempt after attempt. Identifying the subjective effects of this particular ART method in contemporary literature allows us to examine the non-occurrence of pregnancy as a mode by which a shattered subjectivity is restored.